System and method for providing sequenced anonymous communication sessions over a network

ABSTRACT

A method for facilitating a sequenced, anonymous communications session in a communications environment is provided in one example that includes receiving, from a first endpoint, an anonymous, sequenced request for a communication session involving a second endpoint. The communication session is sequenced to occur at designated periods provided by the end user(s) and/or an administrator, while maintaining end user(s) anonymity.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is related to the following applications: (1)U.S. application Ser. No. 12/415,839 filed Mar. 31, 2009, entitled“System and Method for Providing Anonymity in a Session InitiatedProtocol Network,” Inventor Michael G. Bustamente; and (2) theapplication filed contemporaneously herewith identified by U.S.application Ser. No. 12/436,869, filed May 7, 2009, entitled “System andMethod for Providing Anonymity in a Video/Multimedia CommunicationsSession Over a Network,” Inventor Michael G. Bustamente. The disclosureof these related applications are considered part of (and areincorporated by reference in) the disclosure of this application.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates in general to the field of communications and,more particularly, to a system and a method for governing userinteraction while providing user anonymity in a session initiatedprotocol network environment.

BACKGROUND

Electronic architectures have experienced significant notoriety becausethey can offer the benefits of automation, convenience, and datamanagement for their respective online communities. Certain networkprotocols may be used in order to allow an end user to be matched toother end users or to scenarios in which they stand to benefit (e.g.,job searches, person-finding services, real estate searches, onlinedating, etc.). In some cases, end users desire that their identity,address, or other personal information remain anonymous. The ability toinitiate a communication session between two users without exchangingpersonal information offers a significant challenge to networkoperators, administrators, and device manufacturers.

Likewise, end users and/or administrators may desire to schedule or“sequence” communication sessions at specified times and periods, orover different communication protocols, thereby preventing undesired orunauthorized communication sessions from being initiated or evenallowed. The ability to sequence communication sessions between endusers over a network presents a significant challenge to networkoperators and administrators.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To provide a more complete understanding of the present disclosure andfeatures and advantages thereof, reference is made to the followingdescription, taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures, whereinlike reference numerals represent like parts, in which:

FIG. 1 is a network diagram showing an operating environment of thepresent disclosure in accordance with one embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a network for providing sequenced,anonymous communications in an online network environment in accordancewith one embodiment of the disclosure disclosed herein;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are block diagrams illustrating a packet network addresstranslation context in accordance with one embodiment of the disclosuredisclosed herein; and

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram showing the method of one embodiment of thedisclosure disclosed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of a communication system 10 forcommunicating, receiving, and transmitting data in a communicationsenvironment (e.g., a SIP environment). Communication system 10 includesendpoints 12, a communications network 14, a web server 16 includingmemory 18 and processor 20, a central website 22, and database 24.

Endpoints 12 are clients, end users or customers wishing to initiate acommunication in communication system 10 via some network. In oneexample implementation, endpoints 12 are personal computers,smartphones, or other communication devices that are operable tointerface with a SIP network. Note also that the term ‘endpoint’ may beinclusive of devices used to initiate a communication, such as acomputer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop or electronicnotebook, a telephone, a cellular telephone, an IP telephone, anI-Phone, or any other device, component, element, or object capable ofinitiating voice, audio, or data exchanges within communication system10. Endpoints 12 may also be inclusive of a suitable interface to thehuman user, such as a microphone, a display, or a keyboard or otherterminal equipment. Endpoints 12 may also be any device that seeks toinitiate a communication on behalf of another entity or element, such asa program, a database, or any other component, device, element, orobject capable of initiating a voice or a data exchange withincommunication system 10. Data, as used herein in this document, refersto any type of numeric, voice, or script data, or any type of source orobject code, or any other suitable information in any appropriate formatthat may be communicated from one point to another.

Any device capable of operating as an endpoint 12 may connect tocommunications network 14 via wire, wireless, cellular, satellite linkor other suitable interfaces. Web server 16, which includes memory 18and processor 20, hosts central website 22 and has access to transmitand receive user or presence data (e.g., user profile data, user and/oruser endpoint data, user contact data, user and network sequencing data)from database 24. Presence data may be collected, aggregated, andutilized as required to facilitate communications between endpoints 12over communications network 10 or other outside communication systems.Presence data may also include information and/or instructions enablingthe creation, duration, and termination of communication sessionsbetween diverse endpoints 12 that utilize different communication and/ornetworking protocols.

Central website 22 can be configured to interface with endpoints 12 anddatabase 24, and may display data inputs from users via endpoints 12and/or database 24. In one example, software that resides in web server16 (which may be included within central website 22) is executed byprocessor 20 (potentially in conjunction with memory 18) to achieve thecommunication coordination at sequenced periods while protecting enduser anonymity as outlined herein. Such activity could also be developedexternally and then uploaded to web server 16 (i.e., central website22). In an embodiment of the disclosure disclosed herein, web server 16is configured as an “internet facing” server and not as a web serverconfigured to search HTTP traffic on port 80, although any IP portincluding port 80 could be utilized.

With regard to the possible items that effectuate the teachings of thepresent disclosure, central website 22 and/or web server 16 may includesoftware and/or algorithms to achieve the operations for processing,communicating, delivering, gathering, uploading, maintaining, analyzing,reconciling and/or generally managing data, as described herein. Thisincludes suitably displaying some or all of these items. Alternatively,such operations and techniques may be achieved by any suitable hardware,component, device, application specific integrated circuit (ASIC),additional software, field programmable gate array (FPGA), server,processor, algorithm, erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electricallyerasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), or any other suitable object that isoperable to facilitate such operations.

Considerable flexibility is provided by the structure of central website22 and web server 16 in the context of system 10. Thus, it can be easilyappreciated that such functions could be provided external to centralwebsite 22 and web server 16 (e.g., as a solitary and/or proprietarycomponent). In such cases, such functionality could be readily embodiedin a separate component, server, processor, device, or module. Note thatthese data coordination features and capabilities may be provided injust one of these elements, in both, or distributed across both of them.

For purposes of teaching and discussion, it is useful to provide someoverview as to the way in which the disclosure disclosed herein operatesin a SIP environment. The following information may be viewed as a basisfrom which the present disclosure may be properly explained. Such adiscussion is for purposes of explanation only and, accordingly, shouldnot be construed in any way to limit the broad scope of the disclosuredisclosed herein and its potential applications. Though the currentdisclosure is illustrated in the SIP environment, it is not limited toSIP networks and can actually apply to other VoIP and multimediaprotocols and networks, as well as multiplexing implementations, etc.

Many applications require the creation and management of a communicationsession, where a session is considered an exchange of data between anassociation of participants. The implementation of these applications iscomplicated by the practices of participants: users move betweenendpoints, they may be addressable by multiple names, and they maycommunicate in several different media (in many cases simultaneously).Certain protocols, such as SIP, VoIP, RTMP and H.323, have beendeveloped to carry various forms of real-time multimedia communicationsession data such as voice, video, and text and multimedia messages.

Reliable, flexible, multimedia and voice traffic over internet protocol(IP) networks have been enabled by the SIP topology. SIP is anapplication layer, control protocol used to establish, modify, andterminate multimedia sessions or calls. SIP provides proxy-able messagesused to perform call setup, modification, and termination functions. Forexample, one SIP message used to perform call setup functions is theINVITE message. The INVITE message is used to invite telephony devicesto participate in media stream communications, such as voicecommunication, data communication, video communication, or anycombination thereof. The INVITE message includes a session descriptionprotocol (SDP) portion that is used by end user devices to exchangemedia capabilities and other information. As unified networks emerge, itis becoming increasingly important to provide communication servicesseamlessly across SIP based packet networks to provide anonymizedcommunication within these unified networks.

The SIP features of communications system 10 work in concert with theseprotocols by enabling endpoints 12 (which may also be referred to as“user agents”) to discover one another and to agree on acharacterization of a session they would like to share. For locatingprospective session participants, and for other functions, SIP enablesthe creation of an infrastructure of network hosts (which may also bereferred to as “proxy servers”) to which user agents can sendregistrations, invitations to sessions, and other requests. SIP is anagile, general-purpose tool for creating, modifying, and terminatingsessions. SIP works independently of underlying transport protocols andwithout dependency on the type of session that is being established.

SIP is an application-layer control protocol that can establish, modify,and terminate multimedia sessions such as Internet telephony calls orvideoconferences. SIP can also invite participants to already existingsessions such as multicast conferences. Media can be added to (andremoved from) an existing session. SIP transparently supports namemapping and redirection services, which supports personal mobility. Endusers can maintain a single externally visible identifier regardless oftheir network location.

SIP supports five facets of establishing and terminating multimediacommunications: 1) user location: determination of the end system to beused for communication; 2) user availability: determination of thewillingness of the called party to engage in communications; 3) usercapabilities: determination of the media and media parameters to beused; 4) session setup: “ringing” establishment of session parameters atboth the called and calling party locations; and 5) session management:including transfer and termination of sessions, modifying sessionparameters, and invoking services.

A standard SIP platform does not necessarily provide services. Rather,SIP provides primitives that can be used to implement differentservices. For example, SIP can locate a user and deliver opaque objectsto his current location. If this primitive is used to deliver a sessiondescription written in SDP, for instance, the endpoints can agree on theparameters of a session. If the same primitive is used to deliver aphoto of the caller as well as the session description, a “caller id”service can be easily implemented.

In some online social networks, end users desire that a user's identity,address, telephone number or other personal information remain anonymousso that other users on the network may not physically, electronically,or otherwise locate a user or utilize a user's contact information for anefarious purpose. Likewise, end users desire the ability to schedulecommunication sessions at periods convenient for them to conduct acommunication session and prevent the initiation of communicationsessions at inconvenient times or dates (e.g. calls after 11 p.m. orsession requests at 2 a.m.). Thus, the ability to initiate acommunication session (e.g. text messaging sessions, multimediasessions, videoconference sessions, voice call sessions, etc.) betweentwo end users, without the exchange of personal contact information andat periods convenient for each user in the context of a socialnetworking network is critical from various standpoints, includingpersonal safety, identity theft/fraud prevention, and personalconvenience.

From the perspective of an administrator, the ability to sequencecommunications sessions between end users based on various metricsenables efficient, safe and profitable administration of the networksystem. In an online social network for example, administrators maysequence communication sessions between end users based upon privilegesgranted to end users who subscribe to various membership levels offeredby the online network or based upon pay per session, pay per mediamodels or other metrics applicable to operation of the network. Asdescribed herein, the term “sequence” also includes the ability toschedule and/or govern all facets of communication sessions between theend users.

FIG. 2 depicts the components of a communications network 30 forproviding user anonymity and sequencing for communication sessionsbetween end users. The network utilizes a source SIP server 32, acommunications broker 34, a database 36, a destination SIP server 38, asource SIP endpoint 40, and a destination SIP endpoint 42. In oneembodiment of the disclosure disclosed herein, a first user desires toinitiate a videoconference with a second user in a social networkingenvironment. For example, the first user (e.g., Sally) desires to have avideoconference with a second user (e.g., Joe) whose personal profileshe has reviewed on a social networking site, such as Match.com. Joe'spersonal contact information, which may include his internet protocolSIP address (e.g., Joe@gizmo.com), is not displayed publicly on thesite, but a “profile name” is used [e.g., ProfileA@match.com]).Likewise, Sally's personal contact information, which may include herSIP address (sally@gtalk.com), is not displayed publicly on the site andher profile name is used (e.g., ProfileZ@match.com). To initiate thecontact process, the first user Sally utilizes a cell phone, Smartphone,personal computer or any other device capable of acting as SIP endpoint40 to initiate a communication session with a second user Joe, whoutilizes a cell phone, Smartphone, personal computer, or other devicecapable of acting as a SIP endpoint. Source SIP endpoint 40 sends aservice availability request to source SIP server 32. SIP server 32responds by initiating a session invitation to communications broker 34.Communications broker 34 accesses database 36 and receives presencedata, which includes personal contact and sequencing data, for both thefirst and second users. The personal contact information andcommunication sequencing information may include data which has beendirectly input by the end users (e.g. time and dates for communicationsessions) or which maybe internally input and regulated by theadministrator (e.g. membership/access metric information). For example,Joe may only receive videoconferences calls between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.,while Sally may only participate in videoconferences between 6 p.m. and9 p.m.

Communications broker 34 reconciles the communication sequence data anddetermines if Sally and Joe may participate in a videoconferencesession. In this example, communications broker 34 resolves that, asbetween Sally and Joe, a video conference session maybe initiatedbetween the hours of 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Database 36 and/or communicationsbroker 34 may then provide the destination contact information for thecall set-up process performed by communications broker 34. Additionalinformation may also be provided by the end users and/or theadministrator related to the sequencing of communication sessions basedon various metrics, including but not limited to, date, time, durationof the communication session, call back or ring back preferences, typeof communication session, network membership/access privileges or anycombination thereof. For example, administrators may provide sequencinglimitations related to end user membership privileges or pay tocommunicate protocols (e.g. $XX.XX per message, or per unit of time, forinstant messaging/chat sessions; or, $XX.XX per hour forvideoconferencing sessions). Such sequencing limitations may also beformulated to take advantage of network bandwidth availability atvarious times of the day or night.

FIGS. 3A and 3B describe the call set-up process resulting in theremoval of personal contact information exchanged between a first and asecond user, thereby resulting in the anonymous exchange ofcommunications between users. FIG. 3A depicts a packet 50 of electronicinformation, which is received by communications broker 34 from sourceSIP server 32, as shown in FIG. 2. Packet 50 contains addressinformation from a first user (Sally) with a personal contact address(sally@gtalk.com) requesting a call set-up with a second user (Joe), whohas profile contact address (profileA@match.com). As discussed above andwith reference to FIG. 2, communications broker 34 accesses database 36and retrieves information for translating (i.e. “mapping”), and therebyrendering anonymous, the profile name(s), profile contact address, andpersonal contact information of each user. Communication broker 34prepares packet 52, as shown in FIG. 3B, with information showing thedestination personal contact address of the second user (e.g.,joe@gizmo.com) from a first user profile address(profilenameZ@match.com), in this example Sally's profile contactaddress. By translating the personal contact information and profilenames of the first and second users, communications broker 34effectively prevents both the first and second users from transmittingor receiving any personal contact information during call initiation,call session, and call teardown aspects of a SIP session.

Referring back to FIG. 2, communications broker 34 next transmits acommunication session call invitation message addressed to a second user(joe@gizmo.com) from a first user (profileZ@match.com) to destinationSIP server 38. Destination SIP server 38 sends a service availabilityrequest to destination SIP endpoint 42 (e.g., Joe's cell phone,Smartphone, personal computer) which if available and accepted by Joe,initiates a communication session call set-up invitation back to Sallyat SIP endpoint 40 via communications broker 34. A communicationssession is then initiated directly between the users (e.g., Sally andJoe exchanging data at link 44) via their respective endpoints 40, 42,without the exchange of personal contact information. As a result, theend users may participate in a videoconference at times that areconvenient for both parties, while maintaining anonymity during thecommunication session.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a method 60 embodiment of thedisclosure disclosed herein. As previously described, a first user orsource initiates a communication session request from a SIP endpointthat is addressed to a second user or recipient (step 62) with a profileaddress. The communication session request is transmitted by a sourceSIP server and received by a communications broker (step 64). Thecommunications broker accesses a database that verifies and retrievesthe profile information and sequencing data for the first and secondusers associated with the source and recipient address information inthe call request (step 66). The communications broker reconciles thesequencing data, and upon such reconciliation, determines to eitheraccept or deny the communication session request (step 68).

If the communications broker determines that the communication sessionrequest does not fall within the acceptable communication sessionsequence data, the communication broker denies the communication sessionrequest and the communication setup is terminated. If the communicationsbroker determines that the communication request falls within acceptablecommunication session sequences of the end user(s), the communicationsbroker translates or “maps” the source and recipient addresses from theinformation retrieved from the database (step 70). The communicationsbroker transmits the translated call request to the recipientoriginating from the source profile address (step 72), with thetranslated call request being received by the recipient SIP endpointfrom the recipient SIP server (step 74). The call recipient must thendecide whether to accept or deny the call request (step 76). If therecipient accepts the call request, a communication session (e.g.,telephone call, text messaging session, videoconference etc.) isinitiated between the SIP endpoints (step 78). The session can remainactive until terminated by the user(s) (step 80). However, if therecipient denies the request for a communication session from thesource, the session is terminated.

It is important to note that the stages and steps in FIGS. 2 through 4illustrate only some of the possible scenarios that may be executed by,or within, the present system. Some of these stages and/or steps may bedeleted or removed where appropriate, or these stages and/or steps maybe modified, enhanced, or changed considerably without departing fromthe scope of the present disclosure. In addition, a number of theseoperations have been described as being executed concurrently with, orin parallel to, one or more additional operations. However, the timingof these operations may be altered. The preceding example flows havebeen offered for purposes of teaching and discussion. Substantialflexibility is provided by the tendered architecture in that anysuitable arrangements, chronologies, configurations, and timingmechanisms may be provided without departing from the broad scope of thedisclosure. Accordingly, communications capabilities, data processingfeatures and elements, suitable infrastructure, and any otherappropriate software, hardware, or data storage objects may be includedwithin the communication system and network disclosed herein toeffectuate the tasks and operations of the elements and activitiesassociated with executing a system and method for providingcommunication sequencing and anonymity in a SIP network environment.

Note that from a business perspective (e.g., as a service provideroperating in the framework outlined by teachings of the presentedconcepts), an entity could work in conjunction with end users to providea framework to authorize permissible actions in facilitating ananonymous, safe, and orderly flow of communications. There isconsiderable value in walking end users through increasingly higherlevels of non-verbal communication. This can be done in a natural waysuch that it protects the end user's identity, while providing a servicethat makes complete sense for them to pay for the ability to use.

Consider an example that is illustrative, a person can spend an hourwriting an e-mail and, with spell checker and other tools, come acrossas someone other than who they truly are. If the two individual'scommunication are moved to a voice call, this adds value through thenon-verbal communication, which each received and which cannot bediscerned through a benign e-mail. A voice call can allow an end user toconverse with someone and gather many clues about their education,intelligence, background, social skills, etc. that are much moredifficult to gather over e-mail.

Shifting the attention to video, in video applications (as highlightedherein), the non-verbal context moves higher with mannerisms, physicalappearance, and the way people project themselves. This has value andthis could make virtual dates valuable for end users (e.g., in anon-line dating community). Each level of heightened communicationeffectively sheds a layer of artificiality off the end users. In onegeneral sense, individuals are becoming more intimate, more familiar, orsimply gathering more information about their respective counterparty.

The same could be said of using such an architecture for job searches,as the architecture presented herein can be used to identify highlyqualified individuals before embarking on a formal interview process. Abrief anonymous voice call or video conference could avoid wasting thetime and expense to interview someone in person, who simply would neversatisfy the job criteria.

Lastly, the concepts presented herein can be used to practice certainskills (e.g., interfacing with the opposite sex, interviewing repeatedlywith employers, etc.). The architecture tendered herein can provide asafe place to further develop communication skills, while auguringtoward an ideal relationship, job, etc.

Although the present disclosure has been described in detail withreference to particular embodiments, it should be understood thatvarious other changes, substitutions, and alterations may be made heretowithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.The illustrated network architecture of FIG. 1 has only been offered forpurposes of example and teaching. Suitable alternatives andsubstitutions are envisioned and contemplated by the present disclosure,with such alternatives and substitutions being clearly within the broadscope of communication system 10. For example, use of a local areanetwork (LAN) for the outlined communications could be easily replacedby a virtual private network (VPN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), awide area network (WAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), or anyother element that facilitates data propagation for SIP endpoints ortelephone branch offices. In addition, while the foregoing discussionhas focused on SIP, any other suitable session, internet, orcommunication protocol may benefit from the teachings provided herein.The present disclosure is not to be construed as being confined to theSIP platform or its proscriptions.

In addition, some of the steps illustrated in the preceding figures maybe changed or deleted where appropriate and additional steps may beadded to the process flows. These changes may be based on specificcommunication architectures or particular interfacing arrangements andconfigurations of associated elements and do not depart from the scopeor the teachings of the present disclosure. It is important to recognizethat the FIGURES illustrate just one of a myriad of potentialimplementations of system 10.

Numerous other changes, substitutions, variations, alterations, andmodifications may be ascertained to one skilled in the art and it isintended that the present disclosure encompass all such changes,substitutions, variations, alterations, and modifications as fallingwithin the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

1-24. (canceled)
 25. A method, comprising: receiving a request for amultimedia communication session at a communications broker in acommunication network, wherein a source address of the request indicatesa personal contact address of a first user and a recipient address ofthe request indicates a profile name of a second user in a socialnetworking platform, wherein the first user and the second user areassociated with respective profile names in the social networkingplatform, wherein the profile names are different from respectivepersonal contact addresses of the first user and the second user,wherein the profile names are displayed publicly and the personalcontact addresses are not displayed publicly on the social networkingplatform; accessing a communication sequencing information includingdata input by the first user and the second user and data input by asocial networking platform administrator, wherein the communicationsequencing information includes metrics related to sequencing of themultimedia communication session, wherein the metrics include call backpreferences and sequencing limitations related to membership privileges,pay to communicate protocols, and network bandwidth availability;determining, by the communications broker, a common session availabilityfor the first user and the second user based on evaluating thecommunication sequencing information; and transmitting a multimediacommunication session call invitation message for a time frame indicatedby the common session availability, wherein the source address of thecall invitation message indicates the personal contact address of thesecond user, and the recipient address of the call invitation messageindicates the profile name of the first user.
 26. The method of claim25, further comprising: translating the personal contact address of thefirst user in the request to the corresponding profile name of the firstuser; and translating the profile name of the second user in the requestto the corresponding personal contact address of the second user. 27.The method of claim 25, wherein the metrics further include date, time,type of the multimedia communication session, and duration of themultimedia communication session.
 28. The method of claim 25, whereinthe multimedia communication session is initiated directly between theusers via respective endpoints without exchange of the personal contactaddresses.
 29. The method of claim 25, wherein the communications brokerdenies the request if the communication sequencing information indicatesno common session availability.
 30. The method of claim 25, wherein thecommunications broker serves as an intermediary between the first andsecond users during the multimedia communication session.
 31. The methodof claim 25, wherein the second user can accept or deny the multimediacommunication session call invitation message, wherein if the seconduser accepts the multimedia communication session call invitationmessage, the multimedia communication session is initiated between thefirst user and the second user.
 32. An apparatus, comprising: acommunications broker in a communication network; a memory; and aprocessor that executes instructions associated with the data, whereinthe processor and the memory cooperate, such that the apparatus isconfigured for: receiving a request for a multimedia communicationsession at the communications broker, wherein a source address of therequest indicates a personal contact address of a first user and arecipient address of the request indicates a profile name of a seconduser in a social networking platform, wherein the first user and thesecond user are associated with respective profile names in the socialnetworking platform, wherein the profile names are different fromrespective personal contact addresses of the first user and the seconduser, wherein the profile names are displayed publicly on the socialnetworking platform and the personal contact addresses are not displayedpublicly; accessing a communication sequencing information includingdata input by the first user and the second user and data input by asocial networking platform administrator, wherein the communicationsequencing information includes metrics related to sequencing of themultimedia communication session, wherein the metrics include call backpreferences and sequencing limitations related to membership privileges,pay to communicate protocols, and network bandwidth availability;determining a common session availability for the first user and thesecond user based on the communication sequencing information; andtransmitting a multimedia communication session call invitation messagefor a time frame indicated by the common session availability, whereinthe source address of the call invitation message indicates the personalcontact address of the second user, and the recipient address of thecall invitation message indicates the profile name of the first user.33. The apparatus of claim 32, further comprising: translating thepersonal contact address of the first user in the request to thecorresponding profile name of the first user; and translating theprofile name of the second user in the request to the correspondingpersonal contact address of the second user.
 34. The apparatus of claim32, wherein the metrics further include date, time, type of themultimedia communication session, and duration of the multimediacommunication session.
 35. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein themultimedia communication session is initiated directly between the usersvia respective endpoints without exchange of the personal contactaddresses.
 36. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the communicationsbroker denies the request if the communication sequencing informationindicates no common session availability.
 37. The apparatus of claim 32,wherein the communications broker serves as an intermediary between thefirst and second users during the multimedia communication session. 38.Non-transitory tangible media encoding instructions for execution, whichwhen executed by a processor, is operable to perform operationscomprising: receiving a request for a multimedia communication sessionat the communications broker, wherein a source address of the requestindicates a personal contact address of a first user and a recipientaddress of the request indicates a profile name of a second user in asocial networking platform, wherein the first user and the second userare associated with respective profile names in the social networkingplatform, wherein the profile names are different from respectivepersonal contact addresses of the first user and the second user,wherein the profile names are displayed publicly on the socialnetworking platform and the personal contact addresses are not displayedpublicly; accessing a communication sequencing information includingdata input by the first user and the second user and data input by asocial networking platform administrator, wherein the communicationsequencing information includes metrics related to sequencing of themultimedia communication session, wherein the metrics include call backpreferences and sequencing limitations related to membership privileges,pay to communicate protocols, and network bandwidth availability;determining a common session availability for the first user and thesecond user based on the communication sequencing information; andtransmitting a multimedia communication session call invitation messagefor a time frame indicated by the common session availability, whereinthe source address of the call invitation message indicates the personalcontact address of the second user, and the recipient address of thecall invitation message indicates the profile name of the first user.39. The media of claim 38, further comprising: translating the personalcontact address of the first user in the request to the correspondingprofile name of the first user; and translating the profile name of thesecond user in the request to the corresponding personal contact addressof the second user.
 40. The media of claim 38, wherein the metricsfurther include date, time, type of the multimedia communicationsession, and duration of the multimedia communication session.
 41. Themedia of claim 38, wherein the multimedia communication session isinitiated directly between the users via respective endpoints withoutexchange of the personal contact addresses.
 42. The media of claim 38,wherein the communications broker denies the request if thecommunication sequencing information indicates no common sessionavailability.
 43. The media of claim 38, wherein the communicationsbroker serves as an intermediary between the first and second usersduring the multimedia communication session.
 44. The media of claim 38,wherein the second user can accept or deny the multimedia communicationsession call invitation message, wherein if the second user accepts themultimedia communication session call invitation message, the multimediacommunication session is initiated between the first user and the seconduser.